Farms that used slaves had cheaper prices because they didn’t have any workers to pay
Original farmers couldn’t afford to keep their farms running so they were forced to sell them, meaning slaves would be doing the work they once did
Plebeians access to wealth was limited because middle class people used slaves to do their work
Slave owners could make money off of their slaves by not paying them and by training them and then selling them for high cost, which meant that they didn’t need to employ plebeians
There was no new technology being created because the slaves would just do it the way they knew how to do it. There weren’t any new jobs being created for the plebeians to have.
Most slaves were enslaved because of their debt, which meant that if you owed someone money they could take you as a slave, so there was no progress being made throughout the plebeians.
Roman employers couldn't afford to pay plebeians so they had to resort to slaves
If the slaves being used were debt slaves, they would have at most a 1% interest rate, meaning they could eventually pay off their debt, but they would not be paying the original amount earned
Romans would choose slaves that could do the work they needed, or that they would be able to train and resell to gain money off of them
Some Romans had their slaves educate their children
There is a bill being proposed, SB 90, that states that all call- center services must be located in the U.S
If you use American speaking people without accents to answer your companies phone, whether it is for customer service or for a secretary, they will be on the phone for a much shorter time than someone who is not American. If you can not understand the person speaking on the phone you will take longer and run up phone bills. If you use Americans for that job a person can take 1 and a half more phone calls, which can add up to a lot more calls.
To: Kate Vitasec Dear Kate Vitasec, My name is Allison and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School in Cincinnati. Our class has been doing a project on Roman problems and how we could fix them with today solutions. I know you are an expert on outsourcing, and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about it:
1. When outsourcing a job, do companies have to pay the American worker a settlement for being fired?2. If your job is outsourced can you sue them for firing you unfairly?3. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can outsource?
Thank you for your time,
Allison Kapostasy Reply: HI Allison
I'd be delighted to help you.
First - while I am outsourcing expert - I am not a legal expert. My area of expertise is around the contract structure between the companies. In essence, I teach companies HOW TO OUTSOURCE right - as unfortunately many do a bad job. I am sure there is a technical legal response to your questions.
1. When outsourcing a job, do companies have to pay the American worker a settlement for being fired?
- what I have seen is that it depends on the company policy. I have definitely seen cases where companies have severance packages when they let an employee go for reasons besides poor performance. In other cases the employees are given the option to join the service provider. This is what P&G did when they outsourced 550 of their employees to Jones Lang LaSalle. The employees kept the same pay, same benefits - they just got a new employer.
Allison - here is the misconception with outsourcing. People ASSUME that jobs are LOST. The reality is that no jobs are really LOSTS. WHat happens is jobs are lost at ONE company - and SHIFTED to another company - the service provider. THe problem is that people in the US get mad when jobs are shifted to another country for a cheaper worker. Companies that outsource smartly TAKE CARE OF THE EMPLOYEES. Companies that are short sighted will fire employees simply because someone can do the work cheaper. WHen you do your report - please remember that outsourcing and offshoring are different. Take Jones Lang LaSalle and P&G. They outsourced - but they did not offshore (all jobs stayed in the country). If you want to learn about a company that did outsourcing well - my book Vested: How P&G,McDonald's and Microsoft are Redefining Winning in Business Relationship profiles the best. I encourage you to read the chapter on P&G.
I HIGHLY encourage you not to think negatively because a company "outsource" when they really mean "offshore"
2. If your job is outsourced can you sue them for firing you unfairly?
Any person that is unfairly fired should can likely sue. Typically there is a business justification for outsourcing. There is nothing "fair" or "unfair" involved - it is business decision. The main reason companies outsource is that their company is not good at doing a certain set of tasks. Think of it this way. Do you parents do their own dry cleaning, cleaner their own house, or perform their own dental work? No.;…they hire an expert. Outsourcing is really about hiring an expert. It is a business decision. Yes - you can have your Dad do your next dental work - but I am sure your Mom is smart enough to pay a few extra dollars to take you to the expert. Besides - how much money would your Dad have to invest in to put a dentist office in his house? The same thing happens in companies. IN the case of P&G - they did all of their facilities and real estate management (janitorial, cafeteria mgmt) themselves. They outsourced to Jones Lang LaSalle. Why? Because what P&G does best is develop, market and make products like Tide and Charmin. Yes - they need to have someone do the clean their office buildings and run their cafeteria. But when they hired a professional company with a professional chef - food quality went up, building were maintained better. And Jones Lang LaSalle was more efficient and saved P&G 33% of the cost - with the SAME employees making the SAME amount of money with the SAME benefits. Now that is smart outsourcing! Here is a you tube video (the back part is P&G talking about it)
3. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can outsource?
Again - it is really a business decision. The right answer is what is a company good at versus not good at. I outsource stuff around my house. I have a maid that comes in every week. Think about why? Let's say I make $50 an hour. I can pay a made $15 an hour. If it takes me 4 hours to clean the house - it costs me $60. However, I can take the same 4 hours and work and make $200. It is SMART for me to outsource because I made $200 and it only cost me $60 to do the same work I was doing for - so I have added $140 of value to my household by "outsourcing". AND - the maid does the job MUCH better than I would have done!
ALlison - now stop to think about this in context to what I wrote above. If I am a company that outsources alot - that really means I am hiring another company (with employees) to do the work. Jobs are not lost. Don't blame outsourcing for a lack of jobs. Now - you might ask the question differently. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can offshore. RIght now - there is not. And here is the interesting twist. Many companies offshore (meaning move jobs overseas) but DO NOT outsource. Does that make sense? Here is a link to my blog on the topic so you can read more.
Allison - all companies outsource things. Even your family house outsources things. Even Adam Smith (father of modern economics and capitalism) encouraged what he called "out- tasking" because it drove efficiencies. WHat causes people concern about outsourcing is when
1) businesses treat the outsource employees unfairly in the process
2) businesses "offshore" - and the jobs are "lost" - just not shifted to a new company.
I hope this helps. I'd love to see your report. Will you please send it to me when you are done? The world needs people like you to help the companies make the right decisions - and that means treating employees right. I think people get "outsourcing" with treating people unfairly and offshoring. Please make sure you stress this in your report.
Kate
Contact:
Peter Temin Dear Peter Temin,
My name is Allison and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School in Cincinnati, Ohio. My class is doing a project on Roman problems and how our technology today could have helped fix that problem. I know you are an expert in economics and Roman slavery based off of the article you wrote and I was hoping you could answer a questions.
1. What effects did slavery have on Rome and the economy?
Use all the information you have researched about your assigned Roman & current problem to formulate a plan that will work towards fixing the problem in Rome using today’s resources.
Fill in this strategic plan outline to help you create a solution for the Roman Emperor.
Causes of the problem in Rome: The Roman employers could save money by giving Roman jobs to slaves. The slaves might not be able to do as good of a job as the Romans, but the employers wanted to save money, and the best way to do that was by giving the jobs to slaves and not paying them.
Why the Romans could not solve their problem: The Romans never tried to solve the problem. They just gave away jobs and let the plebeians be unemployed. The Romans never thought of saving money as a problem, the rich employers just wanted to become more rich.
Similar problem today: (brief description) People outsource and offshore jobs to different people or countries. Employers give jobs to people who are more applied to do that job. In some cases the person is paid the same amount to do the same work for the same amount of time, but other times the new employees are paid less than the origingals.
Technology, resources, people, information & laws that contribute to the solution of the current problem There is a bill in the senate that states that all customer service and call centers must be operated by people living in the U.S. The government is limiting the offshoring of jobs, which helps the American economy.
How Rome can use today’s resources to solve their problems: (Your Solution)
There could be a limit to how many slaves 1 person/ employer can own.
The law would state: “Any person who owns or is planning on acquiring a slave must not own more than 1 slave per acre of land.”
There could be certain jobs that only plebeians or slaves can do.
The law would state: “_ job shall only be done by a plebeian. No slave can take the job away from the Roman.”
Final Project: Final Project
Facts:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Current Day Outsourcing:
Minimum Wage:
$907.00
$4.00
$4.00
$0.00
$1.00
$8.00
$9.00
$1.00
$20.00
$14.00
$2.00
$9.00
$0.00
$798.00
$8.00
$2.00
$18.00
$5.00
$1.00
$1.00
$2.00
$4.00
$2.00
$3.00
$0.00
$3.00
$1.00
$82.00
$672.00
$1.00
$16.00
$2.00
$360.00
$1.00
$5.00
$4.00
$1.00
$306.00
$2.00
$3.00
$1.00
$7.00
$229.00
$11.00
$6.00
$44.00
$0.00
$7.00
$1.00
$5.00
$0.00
$2.00
$0.00
$526.00
$5.00
$902.00
$2.00
$2.00
$2.00
$17.00
$3.00
$1.00
$279.00
$0.00
$689.00
$11.00
$6.00
$2.00
$993.00
$0.00
$2.00
$817.00
$7.00
$7.00
$6.00
$0.00
$0.00
$1.00
$6.00
$1.00
$18.00
$12.00
$0.00
$4.00
$11.00
$2.00
$1.00
$830.00
$11.00
$10.00
$2.00
$12.00
$251.00
$1.00
$5.00
$6.00
$664.00
$0.00
$1.00
$0.00
$5.00
$19.00
$981.00
$494.00
$4.00
$3.00
$1.00
$13.00
$0.00
$2.00
$1.00
$1.00
$810.00
$0.00
$2.00
$1.00
$2.00
$0.00
$401.00
$0.00
$0.00
$1.00
$19.00
$16.00
$2.00
$1.00
$1.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$7.00
$2.00
$5.00
$4.00
$3.00
$6.00
$0.00
$4.00
$2.00
$8.00
$9.00
$0.00
$12.00
$0.00
$3.00
$2.00
$496.00
$7.00
$1.00
$4.00
$2.00
$15.00
$747.00
$7.00
$1.00
$4.00
$5.00
$211.00
$0.00
$6.00
$9.00
$1.00
$0.00
$2.00
$11.00
$1.00
$1.00
$3.00
$848.00
$0.00
$15.00
$2.00
$477.00
$1.00
$2.00
$5.00
$1.00
$0.00
$3.00
$2.00
$7.00
$2.00
$2.00
$95.00
$2.00
$0.00
$22.00
$15.00
$3.00
$490.00
$5.00
$7.00
$1.00
$0.00
$0.00
$917.00
$0.00
People are outsourced to:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Solutions to today problems:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Contacts:
To: Kate Vitasec
Dear Kate Vitasec,
My name is Allison and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School in Cincinnati. Our class has been doing a project on Roman problems and how we could fix them with today solutions. I know you are an expert on outsourcing, and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about it:
1. When outsourcing a job, do companies have to pay the American worker a settlement for being fired?2. If your job is outsourced can you sue them for firing you unfairly?3. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can outsource?
Thank you for your time,
Allison Kapostasy
Reply:
HI Allison
I'd be delighted to help you.
First - while I am outsourcing expert - I am not a legal expert. My area of expertise is around the contract structure between the companies. In essence, I teach companies HOW TO OUTSOURCE right - as unfortunately many do a bad job. I am sure there is a technical legal response to your questions.
1. When outsourcing a job, do companies have to pay the American worker a settlement for being fired?
- what I have seen is that it depends on the company policy. I have definitely seen cases where companies have severance packages when they let an employee go for reasons besides poor performance. In other cases the employees are given the option to join the service provider. This is what P&G did when they outsourced 550 of their employees to Jones Lang LaSalle. The employees kept the same pay, same benefits - they just got a new employer.
Allison - here is the misconception with outsourcing. People ASSUME that jobs are LOST. The reality is that no jobs are really LOSTS. WHat happens is jobs are lost at ONE company - and SHIFTED to another company - the service provider. THe problem is that people in the US get mad when jobs are shifted to another country for a cheaper worker. Companies that outsource smartly TAKE CARE OF THE EMPLOYEES. Companies that are short sighted will fire employees simply because someone can do the work cheaper. WHen you do your report - please remember that outsourcing and offshoring are different. Take Jones Lang LaSalle and P&G. They outsourced - but they did not offshore (all jobs stayed in the country). If you want to learn about a company that did outsourcing well - my book Vested: How P&G,McDonald's and Microsoft are Redefining Winning in Business Relationship profiles the best. I encourage you to read the chapter on P&G.
I HIGHLY encourage you not to think negatively because a company "outsource" when they really mean "offshore"
2. If your job is outsourced can you sue them for firing you unfairly?
Any person that is unfairly fired should can likely sue. Typically there is a business justification for outsourcing. There is nothing "fair" or "unfair" involved - it is business decision. The main reason companies outsource is that their company is not good at doing a certain set of tasks. Think of it this way. Do you parents do their own dry cleaning, cleaner their own house, or perform their own dental work? No.;…they hire an expert. Outsourcing is really about hiring an expert. It is a business decision. Yes - you can have your Dad do your next dental work - but I am sure your Mom is smart enough to pay a few extra dollars to take you to the expert. Besides - how much money would your Dad have to invest in to put a dentist office in his house? The same thing happens in companies. IN the case of P&G - they did all of their facilities and real estate management (janitorial, cafeteria mgmt) themselves. They outsourced to Jones Lang LaSalle. Why? Because what P&G does best is develop, market and make products like Tide and Charmin. Yes - they need to have someone do the clean their office buildings and run their cafeteria. But when they hired a professional company with a professional chef - food quality went up, building were maintained better. And Jones Lang LaSalle was more efficient and saved P&G 33% of the cost - with the SAME employees making the SAME amount of money with the SAME benefits. Now that is smart outsourcing! Here is a you tube video (the back part is P&G talking about it)
3. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can outsource?
Again - it is really a business decision. The right answer is what is a company good at versus not good at. I outsource stuff around my house. I have a maid that comes in every week. Think about why? Let's say I make $50 an hour. I can pay a made $15 an hour. If it takes me 4 hours to clean the house - it costs me $60. However, I can take the same 4 hours and work and make $200. It is SMART for me to outsource because I made $200 and it only cost me $60 to do the same work I was doing for - so I have added $140 of value to my household by "outsourcing". AND - the maid does the job MUCH better than I would have done!
ALlison - now stop to think about this in context to what I wrote above. If I am a company that outsources alot - that really means I am hiring another company (with employees) to do the work. Jobs are not lost. Don't blame outsourcing for a lack of jobs. Now - you might ask the question differently. Is there a limit to how many jobs a company can offshore. RIght now - there is not. And here is the interesting twist. Many companies offshore (meaning move jobs overseas) but DO NOT outsource. Does that make sense? Here is a link to my blog on the topic so you can read more.
Allison - all companies outsource things. Even your family house outsources things. Even Adam Smith (father of modern economics and capitalism) encouraged what he called "out- tasking" because it drove efficiencies. WHat causes people concern about outsourcing is when
1) businesses treat the outsource employees unfairly in the process
2) businesses "offshore" - and the jobs are "lost" - just not shifted to a new company.
I hope this helps. I'd love to see your report. Will you please send it to me when you are done? The world needs people like you to help the companies make the right decisions - and that means treating employees right. I think people get "outsourcing" with treating people unfairly and offshoring. Please make sure you stress this in your report.
Kate
Contact:
Peter Temin
Dear Peter Temin,
My name is Allison and I am a seventh grade student at Nagel Middle School in Cincinnati, Ohio. My class is doing a project on Roman problems and how our technology today could have helped fix that problem. I know you are an expert in economics and Roman slavery based off of the article you wrote and I was hoping you could answer a questions.
1. What effects did slavery have on Rome and the economy?
Thank you,
Allison Kapostasy
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Strategic Plan for Rome
Name: Allison Kapostasy
Use all the information you have researched about your assigned Roman & current problem to formulate a plan that will work towards fixing the problem in Rome using today’s resources.
Fill in this strategic plan outline to help you create a solution for the Roman Emperor.
The Roman employers could save money by giving Roman jobs to slaves. The slaves might not be able to do as good of a job as the Romans, but the employers wanted to save money, and the best way to do that was by giving the jobs to slaves and not paying them.
The Romans never tried to solve the problem. They just gave away jobs and let the plebeians be unemployed. The Romans never thought of saving money as a problem, the rich employers just wanted to become more rich.
People outsource and offshore jobs to different people or countries. Employers give jobs to people who are more applied to do that job. In some cases the person is paid the same amount to do the same work for the same amount of time, but other times the new employees are paid less than the origingals.
There is a bill in the senate that states that all customer service and call centers must be operated by people living in the U.S. The government is limiting the offshoring of jobs, which helps the American economy.
- There could be a limit to how many slaves 1 person/ employer can own.
The law would state: “Any person who owns or is planning on acquiring a slave must not own more than 1 slave per acre of land.”- There could be certain jobs that only plebeians or slaves can do.
The law would state: “_ job shall only be done by a plebeian. No slave can take the job away from the Roman.”Sources__
http://ancientromanunemployment.weebly.com/contacts.html
http://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/
http://www.main-vision.com/richard/Slavery.html
Outsourcing Statistics
Bill 0090
Minimum Wage
Outsourcing Solutions
Slaves per Owner